A is for…. Anthropomorphic ~ Selling Vintage A to Z

I thought I’d start the series off with a word we’ve discussed on the blog before, although it was about 2 years ago. But it’s still a good one!! Anthropomorphic collectibles are still very popular.(This post contains affiliate links)

Anthropomorphic collectibles are all those fun things you’ve seen for years but maybe didn’t know the name for. Now you do.

According to the dictionary “anthropomorphism” means “ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman things”.

But really, anthropomorphic items are quite collectible! Kitschy and cute, these salt and pepper shakers, tea bag rests, planters, teapots, jam pots…the list goes on…were found in your local Five and Dime in the 40s and 50s. They were also given out as prizes for games such as Bingo.
Most of these novelty items took the form of vegetables, fruit, animals or utensils with smiling faces.

Or…maybe not so smiley. I think I narrowed this planter down to a turnip…but I’m still not sure if the headscarf is for a particular purpose, like a toothache. I was imagining this planter being given with a cheery plant as a Get Well gift. Hmm. I listed this cutie awhile back and she sold the same day for $24.
As shown earlier with the example of Mr. Peanut, sometimes the anthropomorphic item was for advertising purposes.

These salt and pepper shakers depict “Handy Flame” and were used by the Indianapolis Gas Company (other companies, too, I believe) to promote and spread the word about cooking with Natural Gas. I had the creamer that matched the set but a buyer asked me to separate it out so they could buy it on its own. They sold for a combined total of $26.

So why is this good to know if you sell vintage? Well, because vintage anthropomorphic items sell..and sell quickly. Plus you’ll want to use “anthropomorphic” as a keyword in your listing or as a hashtag in your social media promoting. I’ve also seen #foodwithfaces as a tag on Instagram.
For kicks, I took a look at some of the highest priced kitschy anthropomorphic items and it seems that the maker to look out for is Py / Miyao. There is even a collectible guide I found that may be a bit hard to track down but I found a few copies on Google. The author is Belinda Evans.

Sometimes the pieces are just marked “Japan” and may originally have had a Miyao sticker, so it pays to do your research. As you can see on that book cover above, one of the telltale signs of Py seems to be the shape of the eyes, with that triangular cutout in the black. Just a tip. Py made other designs as well and distributed to companies like UCAGCO and Lefton. You can read a bit more about them here.

Let’s finish up with a look at some items on Etsy that show the range of products that fit under the “anthropomorphic” umbrella.

Thank you so much for including my shop in your article. You made my day. I am a bit obsessed with anthropomorphic collectibles because you can’t help but smile when they’re around. My husband says it looks like Willy Wonka decorated our house. I can’t imagine it any other way. 🙂

I love this post for so many reasons. I learned alot AND you left some nice links for me to follow to learn even more. Your photos are beautiful and you write really well. Don’t stop writing this blog! I look forward to reading all the way to Z!

Thank you so much. I found quite a few pieces in our thrift shop today. The happy apple set. 2 sets of shakers, adorable, cream sugar, dual jam pots and the tea pot. Only thing is there are no lids for the teapot and jam set. Do you know there are replacement lid sites I can purchase. Thank you so much. Really enjoyed your post. Cindy.

The only place I’ve seen replacement pieces of things is on Replacements dot com. If you know the maker…that’s an option. Your set sounds cute! There are also groups of vintage kitchen stuff on Facebook and you could put out an ISO (In Search Of)